After Binance: a digital-asset treasury is only as good as its custody

The answer to platform risk is not to sell digital assets, but to choose where and how they are held.

Key points

On 29 October 2026, about USD 6.3 billion was stolen from Binance, the largest theft on record. The FBI attributes it to the North Korean group TraderTraitor (Lazarus).
The exchange covered user losses from its corporate treasury and insurance funds. When withdrawals reopened, net outflows reached USD 3.64 billion in nine and a half hours.
Two listed bitcoin holders have reacted: one authorized the sale or pledge of its holdings, the other sold everything.
Our view: risk is managed through custody and diversification, not liquidation.

The largest theft in the history of digital assets hit Binance on 29 October. Two listed companies responded by selling their bitcoin or authorizing its sale. We read it differently: a digital-asset treasury is protected first by its custody.

What happened

On Thursday 29 October, attackers took about USD 6.3 billion in assets from Binance. The previous record, set by Bybit in 2025, was USD 1.5 billion. On 31 October, the FBI attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-linked unit better known as Lazarus. About USD 3 billion has been frozen.

According to the BBC, 90% of losses were covered by Saturday 31 October; according to CNBC, about 95% by the following day, using the company's treasury and insurance funds. Users are not bearing the loss.

Withdrawals reopened in phases from 1 November. In the first nine and a half hours, Binance processed USD 4.65 billion of withdrawals against USD 1.01 billion of deposits, a net outflow of USD 3.64 billion. That is about 2.1% of the platform's USD 171 billion in assets: a real move, but an orderly one.

Two treasury responses

On 30 October, the board of Next Technology Holding, a Nasdaq-listed company, authorized the sale or pledge of about 5,833 bitcoin in tranches. The company cited the Binance incident, the vulnerability of exchanges and the long-term risk of quantum computing. None of its bitcoin was held at Binance, and no transaction has been announced so far.

In New Zealand, Locate Technologies, the first bitcoin treasury company listed on the NZX, sold its entire bitcoin holding at a material loss, also citing security risks.

The logic is the same in both cases: when the asset is concentrated and custody is a worry, selling looks like the only protection.

Custody becomes a banking service

Meanwhile, institutional infrastructure is moving forward. Deutsche Bank is preparing bitcoin and ether custody for institutional and corporate clients, expected within weeks, with stablecoins, tokenized assets and an expansion into Asia to follow next year. BNY, the main custodian of USDC reserves, already supports minting and redemption of the stablecoin on its digital asset custody platform.

The message is clear: holding digital assets is no longer a job for trading venues. It is becoming a custodian's job, with segregation of assets, controls and accountability.

The Swiss angle

Switzerland made this choice early. Since 2021, the DLT Act has governed ledger-based securities and the segregation of crypto assets if a custodian fails. For a company, the question is therefore not whether it may hold digital assets, but with whom, under which regime and in what proportion of its balance sheet.

Our view

A treasury is not a bet on a single asset. Our Digital Assets Treasury is capped below half of net proceeds and split between bitcoin and ether. It is a diversification policy, not accumulation.
Custody is the first decision, not the last. Our assets are held in regulated, institutional custody, separate from trading venues. An incident at an exchange must not become a balance-sheet incident.
Selling is not a risk policy. Liquidating under pressure turns an operational risk into a realized loss. The right reflex is to check where the assets are, who holds them and under which legal framework.

The Binance incident does not call digital assets into question. It is a reminder that a treasury is judged first by its custody.

FAQ

Did Binance users lose their funds?

No, according to available reports. Binance covered losses from its treasury and insurance funds, and about USD 3 billion has been frozen.

Has Next Technology Holding sold its bitcoin?

Not so far. Its board authorized a sale or pledge in tranches; no transaction has been announced.

What is institutional custody?

Assets held by a regulated custodian, separate from trading venues, with segregation of holdings and independent controls.

Sources

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